Firefly:Blocking policy
Blocking is the means by which an administrator prevents a user account or IP address/range from editing the Firefly and Serenity Database. Blocks are preventive rather than punitive measures used to prevent damage by dealing with vandalism and enforcing Database policies. Block duration may vary, depending on the severity and longevity of vandalism, but in most instances a block can be lifted if the editor agrees to stop the damaging behavior. All users may post block requests at the Administrators' noticeboard (for complex or long-term vandalism), or on the IRC channel. Because of the dynamic nature of IPs, and the related risk of collateral damage, most blocks should be in the range of 24 hours to 1 month, with exceptions noted below. Only in very rare cases should non-proxy IPs be blocked for more than three months. When considering blocking, it is important to remember the axiom "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity" — article blanking or addition of fanon may be just a well-meant attempt to remove inaccurate information or expand the encyclopedia. Always assume good faith, but remember that the rules apply to everyone equally. Grounds for blocking #'Vandalism' – Vandalism is defined as any bad-faith edit made with the intent to lower the quality of the wiki or disrupt the functioning of the community. In most cases, users should be warned prior to blocking, though final discretion is left to the administrators. #'Spam' – Posting irrelevant spam links in articles, or creating articles which are entirely spam is grounds for an infinite block (for registered users) or a shorter-term IP block. #'Move vandalism' – Page move vandalism (moving an article to a nonsensical or inappropriate title) is grounds for immediate indefinite bans. #'Inappropriate account naming' – Creating an inappropriate account name - be it in terms of user impersonation/insult, or general rudeness/obscenity is also grounds for a no-warning infinite block. #'Disruption' – Users who disrupt the wiki (be it via changing other people's comments, making misleading edits, or harassing other users) may also be blocked. #'Copyright violations' – Users who continually post copyrighted material despite being warned should be blocked so as to prevent further violations. #'Blanking pages' – Users should typically be warned prior to being blocked for page blanking, except in extreme cases where the blanking is obviously being done with malicious intent - i.e. 4 articles blanked in one minute. #'Fanon' – Users adding fanon should almost always be warned prior to blocking. Warnings should also include links to the fanon wikia. Repeatedly posting fanon after being told to stop is grounds for a short-term block. #'Personal attacks ' – Users attacking other editors personally (in regards to anything) should be given one warning prior to a cool-off ban. The length of the ban is dependent on the severity of personal attacks. #'Posting personal information' – The posting of personal information regarding other people (i.e. their home address, phone number, etc.) is unacceptable, and will be enforced with blocks. Users doing so should be warned, and blocked if they continue. #'Open proxies' – Due to vandalism concerns, we do not allow editing from open proxies. When they are found, they are to be blocked indefinitely. #'Editing only user pages and not articles' – Users that consistently edit and add to their user pages and subpages without contribution to the main article namespace will be warned and then blocked. As this is a sensitive issue, good judgement should be made pertaining to the user in question and whether or not it is likely that they will actually contribute to the main article space after a warning and a block. #'Abuse of the Database's file upload function' #'Violation of consensus' – Many decisions on the Database are determined by consensus. Do not violate that consensus or you will be blocked. #'Sockpuppetry' – Per our sockpuppetry policy, use of multiple accounts to have multiple vanity userpages, influence votes, or evade blocks will all result in blocks being handed out. #'Editing articles' – any user who edits an article that has an template on it, without first discussing it with the user who put the template there, will receive a warning. If the user again edits the article without permission, then they will receive a block per the guidelines below or per the blocking administrator's discretion. This does not mean that users cannot revert vandalism or bad-faith edits done on articles with the template on it while that article's writer is away. This also does not apply to bot edits or other maintenance edits—this simply applies to users who willfully and knowingly ignore the Inuse template to make changes to an article. Likewise, any user who finds themselves in an edit war is prohibited from using the tag to shield their point of view—administrators will remove this template in these situations and direct the involved users to the talk page(s) of the respective article. #'Abusing the blog feature' – Per our blog policy, abusing the blog feature through posts that violate our policy, or by making an excessive amount of edits to the blog namespace will result in warnings and/or blocks being handed out. Block length guidelines With the exceptions noted above, blocks should usually progress according to the following table. Final discretion is left to the blocking administrator on a case-by-case basis. When blocking a user or IP for anything less than infinite, should be subst'ed on talk pages with the appropriate length. A note to AOL users AOL uses a shared IP system (meaning they give out the same IP addresses to several people), so if you use AOL and are blocked for vandalism you didn't commit, contact an admin for assistance. Due to the fact that many of the acts of vandalism to this wiki come from AOL IPs, we block each AOL IP that made the offense. The only way not to get blocked due to the actions of others is to switch Internet Service Providers (ISPs). If this is not an option, then just refresh your page until the block message goes away and do any major edits offline.